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Do you own a business yet?

12-18-2007, 10:52 PM

A few weeks ago I went to a Rich Dad Poor Dad seminar. I don&#39;t know if any of you have ever heard of it. But they have alot of books and a real powerful presentation.
In the beginning he was asking what kind of people we were and what side we were on.
And I thought he made a real good point. I can;t remember all of them, there was 4 kinds of people.

1. people who work at a job
2.people who own a job - a good portion of small business owners
these 2 being on one side

3. A business owner - *someone who actually just runs a business with people doing the labor for them.
4. Some type of investor or something like that. which is the point of the presentation.
To be on the latter half in 3 or 4.
Does this make sense so far?

I find myself at #2 where I basically own my job. I want to be at #3 with the money I bring in from my business to invest it.#4

Can anyone else relate to what I am saying.
If you find yourself in at # 3 how long did it take before you went from just owning a job to owning and running a business.

I&#39;m tired so this might not make sense.

Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

To get through Steps 1, 2, & 3 =1-5 years of business, depends on the market and demand for the services with in an area and drive of the individual operateing the business.
Step 3-4 = 5-10 of business years for most businesses some faster than others. The transition from 3 to 4 may take you only 6 years of operating business where it may take me 10+.

Does this help? I have seen this demo before a few years back, it looks like it might have been structured a little differently but basicly the same.

What did you think of the seminar? likes? dislikes? did it help or give you idea&#39;s?

Comment

Quote[/b] ]Does this help? I have seen this demo before a few years back, it looks like it might have been structured a little differently but basicly the same.

What did you think of the seminar? likes? dislikes? did it help or give you idea&#39;s?

I understand it takes time to transition into each "step".
I always thought wow i own my own business. But where I&#39;m at just like he said - I own a job. When it you think about it thats what I have. Its a business but its new.
I just wanted to see if anyone else agreed that its more like owning a job i the beginning stages.

I liked that seminar. Wow what a salesman that guy was. They were here for 3 nights and the night I was there they must have made at least 15-20,000 grand. People were getting up left and right to buy there package at &#036;500 each. I t was 50% off those 3 nights.
I would be interested in there strategies but not right now. I have one of his books and dvds . I have not read them yet though.

Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

This is just such a fascinating topic, I could go on for hours about this.

Quote[/b] ]I find myself at #2 where I basically own my job. I want to be at #3 with the money I bring in from my business to invest it.#4

Can anyone else relate to what I am saying.
If you find yourself in at # 3 how long did it take before you went from just owning a job to owning and running a business.

A big HUGE part of going from #2 to #3 is creating systems. Having a system in place or an operators manual is very important. As you are working on your business, you really want to look ahead as if you were going to be franchising it. You want to have it become a turn key operation where everything is set up and all the jobs are described and explained. You want to take the unknown out of the equation. You want to have done the experimentation and pass along to your staff what you found that has worked.

I applaud you for taking that step from employee to entrepreneur. Now you should create an operators book to explain to the staff you will be hiring in the future, how to run the business you created. It will also help you understand better what you are doing.

Another thing to think about is this. What is your goal? Where do you want to take all this? What&#39;s your big vision?

Comment

Wow good find on the video&#33; Exactly what I was talking about. The guy that did the presentation where I was at was alot more powerful than you see in that video. He made you feel like - signing up for their class and package was the key to what you&#39;ve been looking for all these years and why wouldn&#39;t you want to do it? And it worked. one after another kept going to sign up. He kept saying you have to take action&#33; Take action&#33;

This type of business seems like a hard one to grow big and then have employees running it for you. Especially with residential customers because most of them are so picky and notice every little detail. I think it would be alot easier in a commercial market. Which is where I hope to be in the years to come.
I want to make the transition to the right side of the chart. If you watched that part of the video. It takes time though. This is not like owning a store where you can hire someone to stalk the shelves and ring people up.

Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

Comment

This is really a great topic and I&#39;d like to explore it more with you. As you reflect on the presentation you saw and this video, what further steps or processes do you feel you need to take in order to get where you want to be?

You mentioned one is moving towards servicing commercial customers, what other things do you feel you need to do?

Comment

Quote[/b] ]This is really a great topic and I&#39;d like to explore it more with you. As you reflect on the presentation you saw and this video, what further steps or processes do you feel you need to take in order to get where you want to be?

You mentioned one is moving towards servicing commercial customers, what other things do you feel you need to do?

More experience, promoting myself, and education.
Funny, I was just checking my email and I got a email from the rich dad poor dad people.
The first thing that stood out to me because it was in bold was - Investors Take Action&#33;
So what else do I need to do - Take action. Not talk about it and get out there and do it.
I&#39;m putting together a brochure right now with good pics and testimonials that I can give to managers. I also have a friend who is very confident when talking to managers and people in those positions to help me out becuase I get kind of nervous. He went with me to one of the Denny&#39;s and we talked to the manger but they had just hired a new company.
I don&#39;t look forward to the next couple months due to the drop in income. But I will have some time to spend on my business. Something I never get to do because I&#39;m still busy.
Rodman made my site a month ago and I still don&#39;t have it set up because I havent had any time. But i see it about to drop off after Christmas.

Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

Comment

Wow&#33; What a great thread&#33; Thanks for starting this one, Rob&#33;

I have been to a seminar kind of like this before... VERY motivational. It helped me decide to go into business for myself. I look highly upon anyone who can truly motivate&#33; These people give you the extra confidence that you need to go the extra mile in WHATEVER you do&#33;

Comment

Could you tell us a little about the seminar you were at and what you liked or didnt like about it?

Hi Rob,

Quote[/b] ]But I will have some time to spend on my business. Something I never get to do because I&#39;m still busy.

I think you said it all right here. This is the main make it or break it component of all business. Those who find the time to market and sell their business tend to grow. Those who don&#39;t tend to fold.

Comment

Hmmmm Steve you are always pushing me to think and dwell deeper on a subject lol...

I think probably my main reason has got to be that it is much less complicated to own your own job verses owning your own business...

I am kind of a simple type of girl. I don&#39;t care to have a bunch of fancy possessions and I really don&#39;t care about making a ton of money...I just want to have enough work to keep us busy and pay the bills...

Now don&#39;t get me wrong...I am not really happy with our current financial status. Especially since our ol winter standby of installing cable appears to be trying to get away with not paying us the &#036;1000 plus they owe us and we are probably going to have to take our contractor to small claims court to get our money...

Needless to say we are no longer doing cable installations like we normally do for extra income this time of the year so we are surviving on what lawn work the guys are still pulling in and our savings which makes the ol Christmas budget really tight...

Buuuut well I digress thats a whole different topic then the one we are discussing

Comment

A while back, a friend of mine was talking to me on how much he wanted his business to get a lot bigger and he wanted to have many locations. He had asked me to tell him what I thought he needed to do to get this done.

So after reflecting a while on his situation and listening to his thoughts, it appeared to me that he didn&#39;t want to have others come in and &#39;take his job.&#39;

When we talked about it further, we came to the conclusion that he wanted to be involved with every part of his business and he didnt want to give control over to anyone else in order to allow for growth. He ultimately realized that he was happy being in charge of his surroundings and that he was very important then. If he weren&#39;t there, nothing would get done or could get done.

He didn&#39;t want to have a business that could run without him for fear he would not ultimately be needed or be important.

Comment

Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ Dec. 20 2007,4:05)]So after reflecting a while on his situation and listening to his thoughts, it appeared to me that he didn&#39;t want to have others come in and &#39;take his job.&#39;

When we talked about it further, we came to the conclusion that he wanted to be involved with every part of his business and he didnt want to give control over to anyone else in order to allow for growth. He ultimately realized that he was happy being in charge of his surroundings and that he was very important then. If he weren&#39;t there, nothing would get done or could get done.

I am sooo feeling that statement&#33;&#33;

I suppose if you want to grow you eventually have to delegate some of your responsibilities off to others...

I just don&#39;t think I would ever find that someone I would be satisfied with taking over my job...